Men's Basketball

PITTSBURGH - Cameron Wright scored 20 points and James Robinson scored all eight of his points in the second half to lead Pitt to an 84-67 win over Duquesne at CONSOL Energy Center.

The Panthers (7-0) held the Dukes (2-3) to 32 percent second-half shooting in posting their 13th straight win in the 82-game series.

Ovie Soko had 17 points and Jeremiah Jones and Derrick Colter added 13 and 12 each for Duquesne.

Duquesne, which trailed 39-35 at the half, got a 3-pointer from Colter and two more from Tra'Vaughn White to take a three-point lead just under two minutes into the second half.

Pitt responded with a 15-1 run to take a 56-45 lead on a Lamar Patterson three-point play with 12:38 left.

The Dukes pulled to within single digits four times before a 3-pointer and jumper by Robinson followed by a Durand Johnson layup made it 69-54 with 7:31 to go.

DU would get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

"I think we got worn down," said Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry. "That's a good team, that's a big team, that's physical team. They've got a lot of depth. We're down three scholarship players and I thought it showed in the second half of the second half."

The Dukes fell behind 13-3 before Desmond Ridenour - who finished with a career-high 9 - scored seven quick points off the bench to key a an 18-6 run that saw DU take its first lead since the game's opening minute at 21-19 on a Dominique McKoy put-back with 8:38 left.

"I thought offensive execution helped us get back in the basketball game," said Ferry. "Our forwards' ability to drive the basketball helped us grind it back."

From that point on, there were four ties before Pitt took a 39-35 lead at the half.

There were a total of seven ties and six lead changes in the game before Pitt took a 45-44 lead on a pair of Robinson free throws with 16:33 left.

The Panthers would maintain the lead the rest of the way.

The Dukes, who shot 40 percent for the game, went 18-of-35 from the foul line. Pitt shot 49.3 percent.

"We can't come out and miss 17 free throws and beat a team like Pitt right now," said Ferry. "We were playing aggressively, so I knew we were going to get fouled. We were shooting 71 percent coming into this game [from the foul line] and to shoot 51 ... its hard because they were stopping us and we were stopping them at points, but the score was not changing because we're not taking advantage of the free throws. Its crippling. I thought it kind of sucked the wind out of us. Then the guys started pressing a little bit."

Duquesne begins a three-game homestand against UMBC on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m. at the Palumbo Center.

NOTES

 Duquesne went 9-of-18 from 3-point with the starting backcourt of Derrick Colter (4-of-7) and Tra'Vaughn White (3-of-4) a combined 7-of-11.

 Duquesne, which entered the game shooting 71 percent from the foul line, shot just 51.4 percent (18-of-35). Soko went 11-of-20 from the stripe.

 Ridenour scored all of his career-high 9 points in the first half. His previous career high was 8 at West Virginia.

 The Dukes play the first of three consecutive home games on Wednesday, Dec. 4 vs. UMBC at the Palumbo Center. DU hosts Penn State at CONSOL Energy Center on the 11th and Robert Morris back at Palumbo on Dec. 14.